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To: PaulM who wrote (7394)	2/9/1998 3:30:00 AM
From: paul ross	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116827

From the NY Times even: "It may be time to go for gold..." nytimes.com PR

To: PaulM who wrote (7394)	2/9/1998 6:33:00 AM
From: lorne	Respond to of 116827

JAPAN Monday, February 9, 1998 Mandarins' descent from heaven is lined with gold By RUSSELL SKELTON in Tokyo There is no better indicator of just how deep the roots of corruption extend into Japan's powerful Ministry of Finance (MOF) than the practice of amakudari - the descent from heaven. An astonishing number of former bureaucrats have descended from the MOF citadel - one of the most prestigious arms of government - to take plum jobs with the banks they once regulated. After years of apparently devoted public service, the bureaucrats simply switch sides for big salaries - up to 10 times larger - and even bigger jobs. The prospect of amakudari ensures that regulators are always eager to please their future employers. Employers are also keen to please their future employees. As the recent scandals in the MOF reveal, the banks ensure that the pockets of bureaucrats are well lined so that confidential information is passed on to them with ease and regulators' eyes can be averted at crucial moments. According to a recent nation-wide survey, an estimated 80 former senior MOF officials are now running prominent financial institutions across Japan. A further 800 former officials are in senior posts in institutions, many with direct financial links to the Government. According to the survey published by the Mainichi Daily News, finance officials head 21 regional banks, 53 credit unions, three non-life insurers and three brokerages. All this at a time when the banking and finance sectors are about to receive massive doses of public funds to help them write off some 76 trillion yen ($900 billion) in non-performing loans. Japan's embattled Prime Minister, Mr Ryutaro Hashimoto, has professed his outrage and declared in the Diet, Japan's Parliament, that he would rewrite the MOF's bank inspection codes to prevent further corruption. The Government would punish the superiors of the two MOF bank inspectors who were arrested for taking bribes from three leading banks, he said. While all this may sound like decisive action, Mr Hashimoto's fury has only served to disguise the reality of the situation. Few analysts believe he has the support or even the willpower to carry out such tough reforms. Similar pledges were made last year when a head of the Health and Welfare Ministry, Mr Nabuharu Okamitsu, was caught taking money from a private welfare group. Despite the promises of a new code of conduct for public servants, nothing happened. The scandals roll on. Yesterday a national daily, the Mainichi Shimbun, reported that Bank of Japan officials had been implicated in the widening bribery scandal. Tokyo prosecutors had asked commercial banks to report on benefits accorded to two Bank of Japan officials, Mainichi Shimbun said. The fact is that corrupt links between the MOF and the banks are institutionalised and it seems most people, especially Mr Hashimoto, a former finance minister, have known, or ought to have known, about them.